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The statement, from the Vatican’s development and education offices, marked a historic recognition of the Vatican's own complicity in colonial-era abuses committed by European kingdoms, and Indigenous leaders welcomed it.
The court enjoys global jurisdiction.
Investigators will now need the authorization of the court’s judges to open a probe. Bensouda appealed for support from Nigeria’s government.
She said the army has dismissed accusations against government troops after examining them.
Boko Haram strictly opposes formal education. In 2015, Nigeria enlisted the support of neighbors Chad, Cameroon and Niger to try and defeat the group.
While the joint operations made the group lose considerable territory, they have not been able to wipe it out.
The ICC has conducted investigations in several African countries. In Sudan, Libya and Ivory Coast, former leaders were indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity after the investigations.
Garikai Mafirakureva Zimbabwe Anti-corruption Commission (ZACCc) investigating officer, Lindiwe Sabeka this week gave evidence against two Chiredzi Town Council officials who were facing criminal abuse of office charges. The two council officials, town Engineer, Wesley Kauma and town planner Consider Kubiku, appeared before Chiredzi Regional magistrate Judith Zuyu, after the corruption case was transferred from the magistrate’s court. Sabeka in her findings nailed the two top council executives when she took to the witness stand. Kubiku and Kauma were arrested by the Zaac on four counts of criminal abuse of office early this year after United Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (Uchirra) wrote to ZACC informing them of underhand dealings involving residential stands by council officials. They are currently out on $10 000 bail each. Kauma and Kubiku are facing four counts of criminal abuse of office dating back to 2015 when Kubiku, who was the acting Housing Director, facilitated their acquisition of stands measuring 3 609 square metres and 3 610 square metres respectively at a ridiculously low price of $500 which they did not even bother to pay. Kubiku later sold his stand to Kauma, and the agreement of sale was produced in court by the investigating officer, which showed that he never paid anything to council as was required. Kauma proceeded to construct buildings without following proper council procedures. According to the investigating officer the two executives’ actions resulted in depriving the local authority of its revenue collection by allocating themselves land which they did not pay for. “We received an anonymous report at our office sometime in May 2020 that Chiredzi Town Council employees are abusing their office. “We then visited the local authority in September this year. “We went through the files and we noted that most of the stands in question belonged to Wesley Kauma and Consider Kubiku, the executive members of council,” Sabeka said. Sabeka also said the accounting system indicated that all stands in question were never paid for while one of them which measured 3457 square metres was only paid US$200 leaving a balance of US$800. Sabeka said Kubiku had the duty to ensure developmental control of stands in Chiredzi, to ensure that no illegal developments are mushrooming and that building inspection fees are paid for but he ignored because Kauma was his best friend. Prosecutor Noel Muranda for the State said the stand measuring 451sq m was fully-developed despite the fact that no payment was made. The duo is being represented by Wellington Muzenda of Muzenda and Chitsama Attorneys and the case was remanded to December 14, 2020 for judgment.
Wakanda appears to be invading the the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the number of Black people who are joining the various offerings coming in 2021 and 2022. In particular, two powerful actresses, Teyohah Parris and Wunmi Mosaku, are major parts of this current expansion of the MCU. Captain Marvel 2, set to release in November […]
The post Black women, Teyonah Parris and Wunmi Mosaku, join Marvel Cinematic Universe appeared first on DefenderNetwork.com.
By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said Friday that a preliminary probe has found 'a reasonable basis at this time to believe' that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed in Ukraine which merit a full-scale investigation. The six-year preliminary probe by prosecutors at the global court looked at allegations of crimes starting with the brutal crackdown on pro-European Union protests in 2013-14, the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the drawn-out conflict in eastern Ukraine. Fighting there between Ukrainian forces and separatist rebels has killed more than […]
The post ICC prosecutor ready to open investigation into Ukraine appeared first on Black News Channel.
South Africa’s power utility ESKOM is set to receive cash from various companies suspected of embezzlement.
The latest move involves $103 Million to be paid by the Zurich engineering group ABB.
The amount is coming as a result of over payments in the construction of coal-fired electricity plants.
The South Africa’s authorities are probing various companied believed to have swindled funds from the power utility Eskom.
Authorities are also pursuing 4 other companies in relation to various irregularities with the ESKOM
The company was embroiled in numerous financial scandals during the tenure of the former president Jacob Zuma.
The government estimates that more than 32.8b dollar was looted from the state, much of it from government firms while Zuma was in power.
President Cyril Ramaphosa came to power three years ago with a pledge to clamp down on state corruption that became rampant under former President Jacob Zuma’s nine-year rule.
BY FORTUNE MBELE DESPITE scoring an equaliser for struggling Kaizer Chiefs to earn a point against Black Leopards on Wednesday, coach Gavin Hunt believes Warriors star Khama Billiat has room to do better. It was Billiat's first goal of the season, after another struggle last season under German gaffer Ernst Middendorp. Another Warriors man Ovidy Karuru caused a near upset for Amakhosi with a brace in his debut for Leopards before Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Billiat found the net for Chiefs to settle for a draw at the FNB Stadium. It was an important equaliser by Billiat for Kaiser Chiefs, who have failed to make a mark in the start of the 2020/2021 DStv Premiership and Hunt told Kick-off.com that it was a great goal, but he still expects more from Billiat. “Any goal he scores is a great goal, but there is a lot to work on, especially on his overall performance. He scored, he got us the equaliser, so we will move on and try and eradicate the mistakes we have made,' Hunt said. Meanwhile, Zimbabwean and Kaizer Chiefs legend Robson Muchichwa has told the same publication that Amakhosi's poor showing must be blamed on senior players. 'It's a pity Gavin Hunt could not sign players, but I hope that after December he would be able to sort out a lot of stuff. You know when you go to a big club like Kaizer Chiefs and you don't go with one or two players of your choice, it becomes a problem. That is what hit him (Hunt) hard,' Muchichwa said. He added: “I don't want to lie. I am disappointed even from last season with some senior players, whereby you end up pointing at the coach, saying the coach is doing this and that. You know, for me, Middendorp was sent off by the players – they are the ones who got him fired, because you can't tell me you win many games and all of a sudden, you’re stuck and then say the coach's tactics are not working. For me it doesn't make sense.' Chiefs have struggled with only one win, three draws and two defeats in the first six games of the South African top flight league. l Follow Fortune on Twitter @fmbele
Known for roles in “Steel Magnolias,” “Queen Sugar,” and more, Sutton was a fixture on the stage, on film and on television.
… COVID-19 vaccine among the African American community rises, US top … been worked on by an African American woman.
"The very … taking was developed by an African American woman. And that is … that 54 per cent of African American adults said that they …
Among the thousands of people fleeing the five-week-old conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region are a few dozen men, women and children from Eritrea, one of the world's most authoritarian states.
They were already living as refugees in Tigray, which had long been a safe haven for them during years of conflict and repression in Eritrea.
But when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government launched a military operation against Tigray's ruling party, the Eritrean refugees' illusion of safety was shattered as violence escalated around their camps.
\"Suddenly soldiers came to our camp and they started shooting,\" Kheder Adam told AFP in a Sudanese refugee camp. \"The situation was very serious. There was a lot gunfire.\"
Kheder and his family had originally settled in one of the refugee camps in the Sheraro area of Tigray near the Eritrean border around two years ago, he said.
For years, Ethiopia and Eritrea had been officially in a state of war.
In 2018, Abiy took power, ending years of political dominance by the Tigray People's Liberation Front -- sworn enemies of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.
Abiy and Afwerki signed a historic peace agreement that same year, winning the Ethiopian leader the Nobel Peace Prize.
After the dramatic shift in alliances, Abiy's forces launched their operation in Tigray on November 4, Eritreans who had long benefitted from protection in Ethiopia appear to have become a target.
Since then, a few Eritrean refugees have managed to escape to Sudan.
The UN, meanwhile, has expressed fears for the safety for those still in Tigray, home to some 96,000 Eritrean refugees living in four refugee camps.
- 'Refugee again' -
Kheder, 30, who was separated by the recent violence from his wife and two children, aged three and one, was among several Eritrean refugees interviewed by AFP at a reception centre for new arrivals from Ethiopia in Hamdayit on the eastern Sudanese border.
\"Some of the soldiers were Eritreans, some of them were (Ethiopian) federal soldiers,\" said Kheder, of the attack on the camp in Tigray.
\"They were shooting at all people. All -- women, men, children,\" he said.
His comments were echoed Friday by a US State Department spokesperson -- though the Ethiopian government, a US ally, has denied the claim.
\"I feel worried and sad to be a refugee again. There I was a refugee, and here I am also a refugee. It's really difficult,\" said Kheder.
He cited Eritrea's notorious policy of universal, indefinite conscription as one reason why he fled his home country in the first place.
\"They forced us\" to undergo a mandatory national service in Eritrea, he said. \"That's why we decided to go to Ethiopia.\"
The Eritrean regime once used its war against Ethiopia to justify its system of universal conscription.
But the system remains in place despite the fact that the war ended in the year 2000, followed by the peace agreement in 2018.
Rights groups say Eritrea's national service often extends for years and any act of desertion or perceived disobedience leads to
While 60 percent of Americans want to get the coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available, Blacks are not as enthusiastic as other racial and ethnic groups, a new study found.
By Thomas Chidamba Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement minister, Anxious Masuka has said government has no responsibility to “spoon-feed” thousands of graduates churned out annually by universities and colleges around the country. He scoffed at an unemployed agriculture graduate Dickson Kubvakacha’s solo demonstration against the country’s high unemployment rate which has reduced graduates into paupers. Kubvakacha is the founder and chairperson of the Coalition of Agricultural Graduates of Zimbabwe (COAGZ). Masuka felt obliged to comment after a picture of Kubvakacha selling sweets on a crowded dusty street in Mbare went viral on social media platforms, dismissing it as an attention-seeking stunt. “I want to think that this is a joke and that the comrade in question (Kubvakacha) will immediately remove his social media page. “Last year, I personally addressed COAGZ and Kubvakacha was present where I outlined the procedure for one to apply for land,” Masuka said. The minister said the government provides graduates with opportunities to be taken up by those willing to do so. “I also highlighted numerous opportunities that any agricultural graduate has in the agricultural space. “It cannot, then, be the Zimbabwean government’s responsibility to spoon-feed the individual. “We create opportunities, and it is up to the individual to take advantage of those opportunities or not. “This is extremely disappointing, to say the least,” Masuka said. Kubvakacha said he was not an attention seeker. “As one of the 35 000 unemployed agricultural professionals in Zimbabwe, we have been excluded from government programmes aimed at turning around national fortunes through agriculture. “We are struggling to be relevant after receiving training,” Kubvakacha said. “I am supposed to be in the fields, where my heart is, but our chance is yet to come. “I rented (agricultural land) twice and encountered bitter experiences.”
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Cody West is headed from Texas to Washington, D.C. – from Law School to Capitol Hill. West, a graduate of Texas State University and the University of Houston, earned a two-year fellowship from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) and American Petroleum Institute (API) as an Energy Policy Fellow. The intensive program equips early-career policy professionals committed to contributing to public policy with the necessary skills to become the next generation of leaders in public service. West now embarks on an intensive 20-months policy training and leadership development program, enabling fellows […]
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The first international aid convoy arrived Saturday in the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region since fighting broke out more than a month ago, triggering a refugee crisis and humanitarian disaster.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said seven trucks brought medicines and medical equipment for 400 wounded as well as relief supplies to Mekele, a city of half a million that had been all-but cut off to foreign aid since the conflict began on November 4.
\"It is the first international aid to arrive in Mekele since fighting erupted in Tigray more than one month ago,\" the Geneva-based ICRC said, describing health care facilities in the city as \"paralysed\".
Patrick Youssef, ICRC regional director for Africa, said the supplies would \"reduce those impossible life-or-death triage decisions\" for doctors and nurses in Mekele who had endured for weeks without running water and electricity, let alone essential medicines.
The convoy arrived as the United Nations expressed growing alarm over the plight of nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees in Tigray and appealed for urgent access to assist them and 600,000 others dependent on food rations.
Ethiopia had restricted access to Tigray, and a communications blackout has made it difficult to evaluate the humanitarian situation on the ground.
Aid groups have been warning for weeks of a looming hunger crisis as food rations dwindled, and life-saving relief was repeatedly delayed.
- Disturbing reports -
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, on Friday said his government would be in charge of handling the humanitarian response and access to Tigray, and that Ethiopia had this week dispatched tonnes of food and other relief supplies by trucks to Mekele and other cities in the region.
Addis Ababa has rejected suggestions that outsiders might play a leading role in the relief effort and an agreement last week to allow the UN and aid agencies access to Tigray foundered, deepening international alarm, before another deal was announced on Wednesday.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said Friday it still has not been able to reach four camps for Eritrean refugees since the announcement of a major military offensive against forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the UNHCR had received \"an overwhelming number of disturbing reports\" of refugees being killed or kidnapped and forcibly returned to Eritrea, a secretive country bordering Tigray to the north.
\"If confirmed, these actions would constitute a major violation of international law,\" Grandi said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday that \"any act of refoulement or forced return should be prevented\" and urged that aid groups be given \"immediate, unhindered and unrestricted\" access to Tigray.
The International Rescue Committee said Friday that one of its staff was killed last month at an Eritrean refugee camp in Tigray. The Danish Refugee Council, which also assists Eritreans, said three of its
“And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who...
After a three-day boat trip from Western Sahara, Mohceine Ait Lamadane reached the Canaries and from there travelled to Italy, taking advantage of a system swamped by arrivals and slowed by the coronavirus.
\"I paid 2,000 euros ($2,430) for the crossing,\" 23-year-old Lamdane told AFP in late November after disembarking at Arguineguin port in Gran Canaria where Spain's coastguard drops off migrants picked up at sea.
And barely 10 days later, he was in Italy \"with his two brothers\", confirmed his cousin Moulay Omar Semlali, 40, who lives in Gran Canaria, the archipelago's largest island.
It was Semlali who picked him up from Arguineguin, a small fishing port that has in recent months taken centre stage in the crisis, with its temporary camp -- that was only set up to process migrants and run virus tests -- completely swamped.
At one point, more than 2,100 people were staying there, mostly sleeping rough on the ground in conditions deplored by international rights groups, politicians and legal officials.
Following the criticism, the government dismantled the encampment on November 30, after announcing plans to build emergency encampments to house 7,000 people.
In normal times, when someone enters Spain illegally, the police identify him or her and issue them a deportation order, except in cases where they qualify for international protection as a refugee.
The process must be carried out within the first 72 hours as after that \"detention is illegal,\" explains Daniel Arencibia, a lawyer who works with migrants in Gran Canaria.
They are then sent to a temporary camp where they wait until they are sent back home.
But the three-day deadline hasn't always been respected by the authorities, who have been completely swamped by the arrival of nearly 20,000 people this year, 10 times the number in 2019.
- After 72 hours, free to go -
In November, a local judge spoke out to remind the authorities that migrants can no longer be held \"against their will\" beyond the initial 72 hours.
Nor can those awaiting deportation be sent to temporary detention centres, most of which have either been closed or forced to radically limit their capacity due to the pandemic, which has also put repatriations on hold.
Although the government has dismissed the idea of transferring migrants to mainland Spain -- as demanded by the authorities in the Canary Islands -- officials admit that some managed to make the journey themselves and from there, travel to other parts of Europe.
Ahead of Arguineguin's closure, many people turned up at the port to search for relatives or friends, an AFP journalist said.
Abdel Rostom, a Moroccan national who lives in Gran Canaria, came to look for the relative of a friend who arrived by boat \"in order to send him over to mainland Spain\".
And when around 200 migrants showed up in the southern city of Granada, the Spanish government's rightwing and far-right opponents accused it of chartering a plane to fly them all over.
But the government denied the allegation, saying they were f
By Noah Washington, NNPA Newswire Contributor The BlerdBinder covers nerdy news for the Black nerds of the world. We welcome all as we talk about subjects ranging from music and tech to toys. We had the pleasure of speaking with Demetrius Grosse, an actor and producer born and raised in Washington, D.C. We sat down with him to discuss his life, career and ambitions. Grosse graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and has appeared in major feature films and television productions, including: “Straight Outta Compton,” “Banshee,” “The Brave,” “13 Hours: Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” “Heroes,” “Westworld,” “Lovecraft Country” and, most recently, […]
The post THE BLERDBINDER Interviews Actor, Demetrius Grosse appeared first on Black News Channel.
Shine bright this holiday season with these LED-light masks from Alexanto Aprons.
By Jirah MickleStaff Writer Talented designer, author and entertainer IMAJ was among the many who shared their thoughts upon hearing of the passing of Country and Western music icon Charley …
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO THE late tycoon Victor Cohen’s two daughters have obtained a certificate for a private prosecution against Waverley Blankets managing director Aaron Vico whom they accuse of fraudulently wresting the firm away from them using fake documents. The daughters, Amanda Berkowitz and Belynda Halfon are embroiled in a long-drawn legal battle against Vico who allegedly fraudulently took control of the company and its subsidiaries following the death of their father. They turned to private prosecution after seeing that their efforts for a public prosecution were being frustrated. The state refused to prosecute Vico citing lack of evidence. They have also written to President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeking his intervention to no avail. While almost all criminal prosecutions are undertaken by the State, a private prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated by an individual citizen or private organisation instead of a public prosecutor. The first ever private prosecution in Zimbabwe saw former Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke being jailed for raping his 11-year-old niece in 2016. Now that Chief Law Officer in the Prosecutor General’s Office Justin Uladi wrote to Cohen through her lawyers, Mabundu and Ndlovu Law Chambers, on November 25 notifying her that request had been granted, Vico is now set to stand a criminal trial. Vico is accused of fraudulently altering the company’s shareholding and changing company documents with the help of corrupt employees at the Registrar of Companies to exclude other shareholders following Cohen’s death. The deceased family alleges that Vico created new shares amounting to 80% of the company and allocated these to himself. Cohen’s daughters claim the same fraudulent documents that were proved fake by forensic specialists were used to change the ownership of the company and to open new bank accounts. In her affidavit, Amanda, representing the family, stated that in terms of the company documents, Waverly Plastics shareholders are Debra Vico (33 percent), Amanda Cohen (33 percent), Belynda Halfon Nee Cohen (33 percent) and Stella Vicky Cohen (1 percent). Cohen told NewsDay yesterday that she was hoping for justice to prevail after the issuance of the private prosecution certificate. “We had reported the fraudulent activities at the police and National Prosecution Authority (NPA) after discovering fake documents and it has been more than a year without action as we battled efforts to have Vico prosecuted. Justice must prevail now,” she said. “Vico is using his political connections to plunder our late father’s estate. We are just trying hard to get justice but we were consistently blocked in such a way that Vico was favoured even if we had proof of evidence.” Some cases that have been opened against Vico with the police under criminal numbers CID CCD HC CR377/03/19 for Waverley Plastics and another case for companies namely Erica, Blankets for Africa, Colourfast Textiles and Printers. l Follow Winstone on Twitter @widzoanto
NNPA NEWSWIRE — “We are finally, as a nation, nearing the light at the end of the tunnel,” declared Dr. Ebony Jade Hilton who, in just four short years, graduated Magnum Cum Laude from the College of Charleston in South Carolina with three degrees, two Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Inorganic Chemistry.
By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer FKA twigs filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that Shia LaBeouf was physically and emotionally abusive during their relationship from 2018 to 2019, saying her experience was part of a pattern of terrorizing women for the 34-year-old actor. 'Shia LaBeouf hurts women,' the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court said in its opening lines. 'He uses them. He abuses them, both physically and mentally. He is dangerous.' FKA twigs — a 32-year-old British singer and actress whose legal name is Tahliah Barnett — alleges in the lawsuit that LaBeouf […]
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Egypt has received its first shipment of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine, which was tested in the United Arab Emirates and is said to be 86% effective.
The shipment from Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm landed at Cairo's international airport from the UAE late on Thursday.
Health minister Hala Zayed and diplomats from China and the UAE were at the airport to greet the shipment.
Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, has seen a rise in infections in recent weeks amid warnings by the government about a second wave.
The country's overall tally stood at 120,147 cases, with 6,854 deaths, on Thursday.
The government plans to first vaccinate health care workers, particularly those who deal with COVID-19 cases.
They are to receive two doses of the vaccine over 21 days.
The Sinopharm vaccine has been approved for emergency use in a few countries and the company is still conducting late-stage clinical trials in 10 nations.
Sinopharm's vaccine relies on a killed virus, similar to how polio immunisations work.
Vaccines being developed by Western companies, like the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, target the virus' spike protein using Ribonucleic acid, or RNA.
